Benchmark Analysis: Fedora Versus Ubuntu And Windows
The following placing table groups the benchmarks into categories and lists the first-, second-, and third-place finisher of each test.
Benchmark | First Place | Second Place | Third Place |
---|---|---|---|
Start And Stop Times | |||
Boot | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 | Fedora 16 |
Shut Down | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 |
Hibernate | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 |
Wake | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 |
File Copy Times | |||
HDD to HDD | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 |
HDD to USB | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 |
USB to HDD | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 | Fedora 16 |
Archiving | |||
Zip | Windows 7 | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 |
Un-Zip | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 |
Tar.gz | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 |
Un-Tar.gz | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 |
Multimedia | |||
Video Transcoding (HandBrake) | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 |
Audio Encoding (Lame) | Fedora 16 & Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
Image Processing (RawTherapee) | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 |
System | |||
CPU & Memory (Geekbench) | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 |
CPU: Single-Threaded (POV-Ray) | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 |
CPU: Multi-threaded (Blender) | Fedora 16 | Ubuntu 11.10 | Windows 7 |
Gaming | |||
AMD | Ubuntu 11.10 | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 |
Nvidia | Fedora 16 | Windows 7 | Ubuntu 11.10 |
Results
Fedora takes first place in eight out of 19 tests, while Ubuntu wins seven and Windows wins five. Ubuntu 11.10 has the most second-place finishes with nine, followed by Fedora 16 and Windows 7, with five each. Windows falls to last place most often (nine out of nineteen), followed by Fedora with six third-place finishes and Ubuntu with just three.
Analysis
While Fedora 16 shows more wins than Ubuntu 11.10, many of those are practical ties. Therefore Ubuntu 11.10 remains the king of cross-platform performance. However, as with any cross-platform comparison, this relies on the lowest common denominator of what's available for the operating system with the fewest available applications. So, while both Linux distros beat the performance of Windows 7 in our testing, the ages of our games speak volumes about the real state of affairs. Linux has serious potential as a gaming platform, but a shortage of developer support keeps the energy from becoming kinetic.